


Smell Ya Later

by strawberrylace



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, this is cheesy and lame but bear with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 06:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18794884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylace/pseuds/strawberrylace
Summary: When it came to working in the family business, a flower shop wasn't exactly what Kylo had in mind. But his days were about to get more interesting when a record store opens up across the street.





	Smell Ya Later

**Author's Note:**

> I had no clue that flower shop AU's were just as popular as coffee shop AU's, so here is my take, featuring one of my favorite Star Wars ships!!

Kylo awoke to the sound of raindrops hitting against window in the morning. With a few minutes to spare before his alarm went off, he laid there in bed motionless, allowing himself to enjoy these blissful minutes before the blaring noise shook him awake. Running his fingers through his longish black hair, he groaned when his alarm finally went off. Timing was everything and there was none to be wasted on a day like today. He had a shop that needed to be opened. 

The nice thing about working at the flower shop was that he only had to go down two flights of stairs to open it up, as his apartment was directly above it. He didn't exactly plan on living so close to work. It just happened to work out in his favor. Lucky him. As far as working at a flower shop, that was somewhat of a happy accident. It was his mother who co-owned the flower shop with his dad for about as long as he could remember. Growing up, he would deliver flowers all across town for her until he went away to school. It was a nice job to help pay for school and had the luxury of coming back to between summers and breaks, but Kylo didn't see himself going into the family business. There were other plans he had for himself. But that all changed when his dad suffered a massive heart attack and his mother had to reassess becoming a primary caregiver for him. Kylo had no choice but to step in and run the flower shop full time while his dad got better. 

All that was four years ago. His father had since recovered and his mother came in from time to time to help out. The flower shop had become more Kylo's than his parents'. He couldn't picture a life without this place. As much as he could try to escape it, the flower shop really was his life. Even the stores that were next to the shop were a part of him, from the mechanic down the street that was owned by his dad's friend to the bakery next door owned by his uncle. They knew him better than anyone else. Sometimes that could be a bit scary, but all in all, he enjoyed having that sort of familiarity. It also helped that business was really good, as everyone needed flowers for all sorts of occasions. So in hindsight, perhaps his father's ailment really was a blessing in disguise. Were there other things that he could be doing than be a small town shop owner? Perhaps, but the life he had made for himself really was a good one.

It was a rainy day in May and as Kylo was opening up the store and getting everything ready, he noticed that the new shop across the street had their grand opening sign up. Seemed like a crummy day to open up shop, but it was Monday, so it made sense to open up at the beginning of the week. He had been watching the movers set everything up in the vacant lot for a couple of months now, but had not seen the owner. Nobody else on the street seemed to know much of what was going on. He knew the place that was there before, a tech shop that barely lasted a year. The owner of it was a really nice girl, however, business wasn't going well for her and so she decided to pack up and move her shop out west. It was probably for the best, as any shop that took up the vacant lot across the street didn't seem to last very long. His mom joked that the lot across the street was cursed as no business seemed to last longer than a year. Everything from restaurants to cafes to every niche boutique in between seemed to try to fill in the void, but none of those places had the staying power. Now a record store was going to try to stick around and Kylo was pretty excited about it. He really hoped that perhaps this would be the business that would last. 

"Morning," Leia greeted, clutching a paper bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other as she walked in the shop. "I hope you're hungry. Your uncle made these bear claws fresh this morning."

"Thanks mom." Kylo grabbed the bear claw from her brown bag and set it down on the counter, drinking it with his coffee from his thermos. 

"I see someone is finally opening up their store," Leia observed as she walked around the shop. "What's the over under for how long that one is going to last?" 

"Mom," Kylo rolled his eyes, taking another bite of his bear claw. "Aren't you the one who said that we should be welcoming of all our neighbors when I was younger?" 

"I did, but I also said that the lot across the street is cursed. I've been telling you this since you started working here." 

His mom did have a point, but there was no such thing as a "cursed lot." That was what his parents called for as long as he could remember. When he was younger, he believed in the silly superstition, but now that he was older, he knew that definitely wasn't the case. It had to have been just based on bad business decisions that previous owners have made when they moved their business in that lot across the way. Now his mom was sounding just as senile as his dad was. 

"But the owner of that record store looks nice," Leia noticed. "Not what I expected him to be." 

As soon as he was finished with his bear claw, Kylo rushed over to the window to see who it was. Across the street, a tall, redheaded man was putting up a couple of posters outside his window. He couldn't get a good enough look at him, as the owner went right back in the shop. 

"You should introduce yourself to him," Leia suggested, stopping to smell one of the orchids on display. 

"What?" Kylo asked, somewhat startled. He'd like to but he was a bit nervous. The last time he openly crushed on someone, they, too, worked across the street from him. This one was a coffee shop owner, who came before the tech shop owner, but Kylo never had the guts to ask him out. Just when he has mustered up enough courage, the coffee shop went out of business. "Why?" 

"He looks cute. Much cuter than that coffee shop owner you made googly eyes with." 

Kylo blushed. "How can you tell he's cute?" 

"I know how to pick them and believe me, he's cute! Now, I think you should at least introduce yourself instead of pinning after him from afar like you did with the owner before. Or I can do it for you..." 

"Oh my god Mom! I can go and introduce myself to him!"

Leia hummed to herself as Kylo threw his hands up in the air, retreating to the back of the store so he could die of embarrassment. 

The morning went by swimmingly. He met a bride-to-be and her mother regarding an all-purple floral arrangement for the wedding, a couple of teenagers looking for corsages for prom, and a gentleman looking for the biggest rose bouquet they had to give to his wife for their 10th anniversary. All while he was meeting with customers and taking orders, Kylo would steal glances of the record store across the street. It appeared that business was going well, with the number of young people that were coming in. He quite liked the name of the record store too: Marathon Records. He wondered where the name came from. He would have to ask while he went across at lunch. It should give him enough time, he figured. But he also wondered if perhaps he should bring something over, as a welcoming gift. Was it too forward of him to bring flowers over? Perhaps, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

It wasn't the best arrangement he made, but there wasn't a perfect way to say "I hope your business stays afloat" in flowers. He made a small arrangement of pink roses, yellow roses, stalks of green bells of Ireland, blue iris, clouds of blue hydrangeas, bupleurum, and lush greens. Leia marveled at how lovely the arrangement was, musing that he would appreciate the sentiment. Kylo just hoped it wasn't an odd gift. While his mom watched the store, Kylo walked across the street holding his small floral arrangement.

When Kylo walked into Marathon Records, the walls were covered in colorful posters, featuring artists and bands of all different genres. It was well lit and the store was playing the new Vampire Weekend record. The store was quite spacious and had a wide variety of vinyls and CD's, as well as a small collection of films tucked in a little corner. He liked this place a lot. He looked around to see if the owner was there but didn't see him. While he was looking for him, Kylo thumbed through the vinyl selections to see if he could find anything. Just then, an Echo and the Bunnymen album caught his eye that he had not seen before. He contemplated on whether or not he should buy it. Would definitely be a great way to make an impression, Kylo thought, tucking the album under his arm as he continued to stroll through the store. 

"Can I help you with something?" A voice called out. 

Startled, Kylo nearly dropped his flowers and the vinyl. Oh crap, he was cute, Kylo thought. The redhead had to have been at least as tall as he was, give or take an inch. He wore a grey baseball tee with David Bowie's face on it, some dark washed jeans, and a pair of green Converse that looked to have seen better days. His red hair was a bit of a mess, but that didn't matter because it looked so good on him, with piercing blue eyes to boot. He could've sworn he saw a tattoo underneath his sleeve but couldn't make out what the design was. Whatever it was, Kylo couldn't resist, for tattoos were his weakness.

"Hi, I'm Hux. Finding everything okay?" he asked, pointing to the album tucked under Kylo's arm. 

"Oh, um, yes." He didn't know why he was getting so nervous right now. Well, he did, but he didn't. "Hi, I own the flower shop across the street and I wanted to come introduce myself. I'm Kylo and here are some flowers." 

Hux looked at the bouquet with interest and curiosity as Kylo handed them over. He smelled the flowers and smiled. 

"It's a welcome bouquet," Kylo pointed out. "I, um, arranged those flowers myself. The way that the flowers are arranged are supposed to send a message to welcome someone new. Whether it's to a new home or a new part of town. I'm also told that they bring some sort of good luck." 

"Do they really?" Hux asked. 

"Actually no. But some flowers carry a special message and the way flowers can be arranged help convey a strong message."

Hux smirked as he set the bouquet of flowers down on the counter and took his seat at the cash register. He admired the flowers for a minute before turning to look up at Kylo. 

"You know, I was wondering when you would come in," Hux admitted. 

"What do you mean?" Kylo asked. 

"When I was setting up the store, sometimes I would look across the way from the window and see what you were up to in there. It looks like you run a nice shop." 

Kylo blushed. "Well, I've been running the shop for a couple of years. Actually, it used to be my parents' shop and I worked for them growing up. But then my dad had a heart attack so I kind of stepped in and had to take full responsibility in keeping the store while my mom took care of him. She still comes in every now and then, but she'd much rather be with my dad now that he's retired. She hasn't completely retired but I'm working on convincing her." 

"Wow," Hux marveled and touched by Kylo's story. "So you were destined to become a flower shop man then?"

Kylo chuckled, handing Hux the record to ring up. "I didn't set out to become one. I always thought I'd do something in marketing after college but I guess no matter how much I tried to shake it off, this was my destiny."

"I sort of believe in destinies too. Like, I believe I was destined to my own record store, but first I had to work at this miserable corporate job in New York just to make sure I had the savings to set up a store. Once I had enough money, I came out here and well, I've made it through my first day, right?" 

"You're doing alright so far." 

As Kylo showed himself out the door, Hux stopped him right at the door. 

"Listen Kylo," said Hux, "I don't know how to properly thank you for coming here and making me feel welcome. You know how first days can be and all. Perhaps I can buy you a coffee sometime?" 

Kylo was pleasantly surprised with not only how well that went but the fact that Hux had taken a liking to him. With a sly smile, he replied, "Maybe if the rest of your week goes well, that can be arranged. You know where to find me." 

Hux looked back at the flower shop and nodded. "So I guess I'll 'smell ya later' then?" 

"Something like that," Kylo smiled, chuckling at the cheesy pun, before he left the store.


End file.
